


Deterministic Chaos

by centreoftheselights



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Blood and Injury, Bodyguard Remy Sanders, Bounty On Their Heads, Capitalist Dystopia, Chases, Cradled in Someone's Arms, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Flirting, Hurt/Comfort, Laser Guns, M/M, Minor Gun Violence, Nonbinary Remy Sanders, Plot Twists, Scientist Logan Sanders, Sneaking Around, Teasing, Undercover, cornered
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:20:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24237166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/centreoftheselights/pseuds/centreoftheselights
Summary: In a corporate-ruled future, Logan Sanders finds himself needing an urgent way off the planet. Luckily, there's someone who can help with problems like that...
Relationships: Losleep
Comments: 20
Kudos: 84
Collections: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Centreoftheselights' Bad Things Happen Bingo 2020





	Deterministic Chaos

**Author's Note:**

> One of my [Bad Things Happen Bingo prompts](https://potestessemagishomosexualitatis.tumblr.com/tagged/bad-things-happen-bingo) from [blinksinbewilderment](https://blinksinbewilderment.tumblr.com/):
> 
> hmmmmmmm logan and remy with a bounty on their heads?

“Dr Logan Sanders. Wanted for breach of contract, illegal experimentation, and crimes against the corporation.”

The low-resolution holo-projector image flickered and jumped in the rain, its eerie blue light reflecting dully off the rusted steel grille that covered the abandoned shop front.

After reading out the message, Logan's companion waved a hand through the image.

“This mugshot really doesn't do you justice babe,” they remarked. “They got your nose all wrong.”

“Would you keep your voice down?” Logan snapped in a low tone, looking around nervously in case a guard was standing nearby.

“Oh, relax!” They nudged him. “No, seriously, relax. You're too jumpy, you look like you're hiding something. But you're not, cause we're just two off-shift factory hands, taking in the outside air on our way to go spend our company cred on the legal intoxicant of our choice. Ain't no-one more ignorable than a factory hand, isn't that right?”

The person Logan knew only as 'Sleep' half-nodded dully at a guard as they shuffled past. Their slow, muted movements were a far cry from their usual sharp smiles and barbed wit, but they achieved the intended goal. The guard barely took a second glance in their direction, let alone the inspection required to identify the illegal projection tech concealed in their hoods, which masked both Sleep's dark glasses (which they insisted on wearing, even though it was presently nighttime) and Logan's much-publicised face.

But then, Sleep was supposed to be good at getting around unnoticed. That was why Logan had hired them as his bodyguard, after all.

“There we go sugar,” Sleep murmured to Logan. “Didn't I tell you we'd be fine?”

“We're not safe yet,” Logan grumbled, as they turned onto a larger thoroughfare, lined with neon-lit shopfronts and thronged with slow-moving bodies. Most had tired eyes and wore drab clothing much like their own, although the occasional overseer or successful shopkeeper could afford to splash out on flashy tech implants or a fluorescent overcoat. Logan gave those individuals a wide berth – no-one with any modicum of success on this planet made it far without getting in deep with the company.

“I don't see why we had to come into the city at all,” Logan remarked. “It would be safer for your 'contact' to come out to the deindustrialised zone.”

Sleep chuckled.

“You asked me to get you off-world, babe. I know exactly _one_ person who can do that safely, so if he says we go to him –”

“Then we go to him,” Logan echoed. They had had this argument several times already, but it still made him uneasy to be somewhere with so many people. The last time he had been in a city like this –

Well. It was better not to think of that.

“Put your arm around me.”

“What?”

Sleep's words startled Logan out of his memories, but they followed this by grabbing Logan about the waist, which was really a step too far. Logan jerked backwards, but Sleep leaned in close, pulling Logan's head forward until their faces were almost touching –

“We're about to duck down that alley on the left. We need to give anyone watching a good excuse why. Get me, hon?”

Logan blinked at them. Sleep's hand was cool against his cheek – although perhaps it was more accurate to say that his cheek was warm, burning at the unexpected closeness and the press of Sleep's body against his own…

Sleep smirked at him.

“Exactly. Keep looking like that.” They trailed a hand up Logan's arm. “When I pull back, laugh and take my hand.”

They stepped away, and Logan felt the sudden lack like the ache of a missing tooth. He just barely had the presence of mind to do as Sleep had instructed – although the laugh came out more like a strangled giggle, which made his blush burn all the fiercer.

“Perfect,” Sleep said, tugging Logan into the alleyway. “Have you done this before, babe?”

“I am uncertain whether you mean hiding from the guards or sneaking around alleyways. Regardless, the answer is no.”

The flash of Sleep's smile seemed somehow brighter than the flickering streetlamps above.

“Just teasing, sugar. You gotta stop making this so easy for me.”

Logan raised an eyebrow. “Or else you'll stop?”

Sleep laughed.

“Oh, hon. I didn't say that.”

Logan's heart was pounding in his chest, and for a moment his eyes met Sleep's dark glasses and it felt like there was some unseen force passing between them – electromagnetism, like a radio wave carrying a signal that Logan was on the verge of decoding.

But then Sleep's gaze slid past him and up, towards a door accessible only via the rickety ladder of a fire escape.

“That's our place,” Sleep breathed. “You wait here.”

Logan frowned. “Wait? What do you mean, wait?”

“I need to go alone.”

Fury sparked inside of Logan.

“Then why am I even here?” he demanded. “I could have waited outside the city, it would have been safer –”

“Oh, hon.” Sleep lowered their glasses marginally. “Like you would have lasted five minutes without me.”

And then they swung up onto the ladder, and were gone.

Left in the alley to wait, Logan fumed, pacing back and forth. Sleep had pulled the ladder up after them, or else he might well have followed them. As it was, he had little choice but to wait here, trying to fight down the creeping suspicion that this was a trap, he had been lured here to be abandoned and captured –

“Miss me?”

Sleep jumped down from somewhere overhead, landing in a crouch and startling Logan out of his rage. A moment ago, he had had a thousand-word essay ready to berate Sleep upon their return; now, he was left momentarily speechless.

Sleep chuckled.

“Good news, genius. I've got you a ride. You'll be off this rock by this time tomorrow. Think you'll miss me?”

Logan swallowed, still waiting for his brain to resume its normal functions.

“I'm not gone yet,” he said, instead.

“No.” Sleep's look was unreadable, as always. “I guess you're not.”

It was as they reached the main street that the first signs of trouble began to appear. There was a crowd gathered, some way distant yet, but blocking their intended path.

“Should we find an alternate route?” Logan muttered.

Sleep gave a sharp shake of their head.

“Ain't gonna do us any good, sweetheart.” They nodded at a cluster of drones hovering overhead. “They're watching the other exits, funnelling everyone through the checkpoint.”

Logan stumbled to a halt, but Sleep grabbed his arm and pulled him to keep walking.

“Don't panic on me now, Specs,” they said. “It's probably just a routine sweep. We'll be through and home easy, just you wait and see.”

A loudspeaker crackled into life somewhere in front of them.

“Have your IDs ready. Be prepared to surrender all portable tech. Any information leading to the return of company property will be rewarded…”

Enormous, scarlet holograms were projected onto the grey concrete of the buildings on either side, bearing a familiar face –

Sleep.

“There's a bounty on you too?” Logan hissed.

“Only a small one!” Sleep shot back. “Well. Small-ish…”

Their jaw was tight as they glanced back and forth around the area.

“Okay, new plan,” they said quickly, grabbing Logan's hand. “Whatever you do, don't let go. And don't trip.”

“Wha –”

Logan's question was cut off as Sleep launched into a sudden sprint, making a break for the nearest alleyway. Logan was yanked after them, his pulse jumping up into his chest as he ran for his life. Laser blasts burst all around them, sizzling steam wherever they struck the damp asphalt and sparking off of metal grilles. After-glow danced across Logan's vision, leaving him blind as they ducked into a barely-lit alleyway. Sleep dragged him behind a dumpster, and Logan fought for breath.

Sleep barely seemed affected by their sudden flight. They had pulled out a laser pistol of their own and were ducking out to fire off a couple of shots at a time – mostly high, aiming for the drones overhead. As far as Logan could see, not a single shot missed its target.

“If we can make it back to my contact, he'll be able to hide us,” Sleep snapped in between rounds of laserfire. “We're gonna need to run again, you good babe?”

“I'll live,” Logan gasped. “When do we go?”

“Now!”

Logan leapt into motion once more, this time grabbing at Sleep's free hand while they both ran. Sleep seemed to know exactly where they were going, dragging Logan through twists and turns, the sounds of their pursuit never far behind. Finally, they ducked through what looked like a maintenance hatch, crawling down a short tunnel, and emerged back into the same alleyway that Logan had waited in earlier. Everything was silent.

“What did I tell you?” Sleep said with a grin. “Everything worked out fine.”

And then, almost in slow motion, their knees buckled out from under them, and they fell to the ground. Logan rushed towards them, and realised that they were injured – a wound on their torso oozing blood, so red, was blood supposed to be that red?

“Oh.” Sleep said softly. “Think you could lend a hand with that, doc?”

“I'm not that kind of doctor! My first aid knowledge is extremely limited! I –”

“About that…” Sleep said. With some difficulty, they raised a hand, pushing their dark glasses up and off their face. For the first time, Logan saw their eyes clearly – iridescent green, arced with gold in regular geometric patterns. Circuit boards.

“You're a synth,” he breathed.

Remy gave him a weak smile.

“That change anything?” they asked.

“Of course.” Logan set his jaw. “Human medicine is not my area of expertise, but… fixing synths is what I _do_.”

It was what had gotten him a bounty on his head. This time, perhaps some good could come of his skills.

“Hello?”

A voice called out from above them, and Logan hunched down, hastily replacing Sleep's glasses.

“Remy? Is that you out there?”

“That's him!” Sleep grabbed at Logan's arm. “You gotta…”

Logan hesitated, but only for a moment.

“We're down here!” he called. “Please, I need your help!”

A short, plump man stepped bouncily off the ladder. His eyes were a bright neon blue, glowing in the darkness of the alley.

“Hey there!” he said with a grin. “I'm Patton. How can I be of service?”

**Author's Note:**

> Come hang out on my Discord! <https://discord.gg/ZZ6am2c>


End file.
